The Princess Won't Be Married Off as a Substitute [Reborn]

[Possessive pursuit / yandere hero / both leads are virgins / happy ending / hero gradually regains memories of his past life / misunderstanding in their past life]

In her previous life, after the legitimate princess was found, Yu Yiran lost the emperor's favor and became a low-ranking princess whom anyone could bully.

At the New Year's Eve palace banquet, she was framed and spent a reckless night with the regent, leaving her no choice but to become his favorite consort.

The regent, Murong Qi, was handsome, but gloomy, obsessive, merciless, and murderous.

On the night Yu Yiran married him, he brutally killed several of her accompanying maids in the bridal chamber.

Blood splattered across the floor. His bloodstained fingertips brushed her cheek, his gaze sinister. "Don't even think about escaping. Otherwise, I won't be able to stop myself from killing you."

Later, she heard that he had originally planned to ask for the legitimate princess's hand at the palace banquet that night.

She had ruined his "plans," and so she was "punished" night after night...

Three years later, on the day Murong Qi staged his coup, Yu Yiran drank the poisoned wine she was given and became a ghost.

After she died, Murong Qi slaughtered the entire imperial family. But rather than take the throne, he disappeared with her remains in his arms...

Reborn, Yu Yiran returned to the night of the New Year's Eve palace banquet.

She avoided the drugged wine and the plot against her. Later, she requested an imperial decree sending her to marry in a distant border region, planning to leave the palace and live out the rest of her life in peace.

But on the day of her wedding, a bloodstained sword lifted the bridal curtain.

Murong Qi put the throne in her hands, then locked her by his side. "Ranran, in this life and the last, you cannot leave me."

Murong Qi had climbed to the position of regent over a river of blood, and his heart had long since turned hard as iron.

But the very first time he saw the little princess, he wanted to possess her.

So even though he knew there was a scheme at the palace banquet, he went along with it, bringing the little princess to his side.

The little princess ran away three times.

The first time, Murong Qi assumed she had gone out to clear her head. He followed her in secret and waited for the right moment to arrange to "rescue" her back to the palace.

The second time, Murong Qi assumed she was frightened of him. After having her brought back, he deliberately kept his emotions in check around her.

The third time, Murong Qi remembered his past life and finally understood that she had hated him for a long time.

But after all the effort it had taken to have her again, he would never let her go this time, no matter what.

[Reader's note]

1. The hero has no first love. In both their past and present lives, his heart and body belong only to the heroine. The hero did not kill the heroine in their past life.

2. This is a possessive pursuit, and the hero is pretty unhinged in both lives. Please don't read if that's not for you.

3. Blurb created on March 16, 2023.

Theme: Pursue a better life